We have discussed the origin of the name, “J-sus”. Now we shall look at the origin of the term of “G-d”. It is not difficult to find historical data to show that the most popular generic term for any deity among most pagan religions was the term, “G-d”. The root of the word is a verb which means “to pour out”. Thus, the concept was that to whom ever a person “pours himself out”, that is his “G-d”. Most pagan religions were based upon a system of secrecy to assure that control of the faith remained in the hands of the leadership. When ever a person joined a pagan religion, the term, “G-d” was the entry-level term that was given to the new believer to describe the object of his worship. As he progressed through the steps of worship and showed himself to be worthy, he would be given the next most sacred name of the pagan god that he was worshipping. Each succeeding name that the worshipper learned was holier than the previous one. The most holy name of each object of worship was, therefore only known by a handful of the leadership which gave them special religious powers.

Thus, as the already established common entry-level name, it could be used as a “politically correct” title when making a treaty between two pagan armies. Thus, they could discuss the terms of a military agreement using the generic term, “G-d”, and thus avoid the chance for irritating the other party. When the Name of “Yahweh” was taken out of the translations, the substitution of the title, “G-d”, occurred within the early Roman Catholic Assembly almost automatically. It was simply the term that the early pagan converts were already using.

Does the Jewish Community know all this? Yes, they do. But they are so busy protecting the Sacred Name from the gentiles that they have no desire to share this information with the gentile Christians, whom they see as just another bunch of pagans. They are quite happy for the Christians to use the term, “G-d” even though they know that it is the wrong term. After all, the Jews see the Christians as just a bunch of pagans, so it is befitting that they use a pagan term. Strangely, however, although, of all people in the world, the Jews should be using the right terminology, they have also slipped into the groove of using the “politically correct”, term of “G-d”. Although they do make some effort to use more biblically correct terms such as “Elohim”, “Adonai” and “Ha Shem”, the term which they use most in modern times is “G-d”.

What most Christians and many Jews don’t know, is that in the actual Hebrew text is clearly says that we are not to call our Heavenly Father, “Gawd“. If you have a King James Bible, turn to Isaiah 65:11. Here, Isaiah is describing the paganism which has come into Israel:

Isaiah 65: 1-5; 11-1265 “I have let Myself be inquired of,not by those who asked; I wasfound, not by those who sought Me. I said,‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation not callingon My Name. (not using the Name of Yahweh)2 “I have held out My hands all day longto a stubborn people, who walk in a waythat is not good, after their own thoughts;3 the people who provoke Me continuallyto My face, who slaughter in gardens (instead of in the Temple), andburn incense on altars of brick ; (all alters were required to be from “unhune” stone)4 who sit among the graves (they were to avoid touching a dead body or being among the graves), and spendthe night in secret places (the only correct “secret place“ is under the talit), who eat flesh ofpigs (strictly prohibited), and the broth of unclean meat is intheir pots (probably refers to the eating of the broth of mice, a common pagan sacred food),5 who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do notcome near me, for I am set-apart to you!’ (claiming that they had attained special holiness though their pagan worship.)These are smoke in My nostrils, a fire thatburns all day.

11 “But you are those who forsake YHWH,who forget My set-apart mountain, whoprepare a table for “that troup” (the original text says: for “Gad”, pronounced “Gawd”, a Babylonian sun god), and who fill a drink offering “for Meni”. (Meni is the name of a goddess of the moon.) (Strong’s 4507)12 “And I shall allot you to the sword, andlet you all bow down to the slaughter,because I called and you did not answer, Ispoke and you did not hear, and you didevil before My eyes and chose that inwhich I did not delight.”

The word translated as “that troop” is the Hebrew word, “l’Gawd” (lamed, gimel, dalet) which means “unto Gawd” (Strong’s, #1408). The word, “Gawd” is specifically the Babylonian god, “fortune”(pronounced “fortunah”, Strong’s #1409) from which we get the English word, “fortune”. It is significant to notice that in the original text, the vowel mark for this word is the small, straight line under the gimel. This small, straight line is called a “pathakh”.

It is also significant to notice that there is only one other reference to the word, “Gawd” and that is the word for the son of Joseph and the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The word is traditionally pronounced “Gad”, even thought the correct pronunciation in the Hebrew is “Gawd”, which basically means “blessed“. In Genesis 30:11, Leah, Gad’s mother, announces that his name shall be called in the Hebrew pronunciation, “Gawd”. In this word, the vowel mark under the gimel is a small letter “t”. This vowel mark is called a “qametz”. The only difference in the pronunciation of these two vowels is that the pathakh sounds like the “ah” in the word “all” and the qametz sounds like the “ah” in the word “walk” which is a slightly deeper and more open sounding “ah”. The original scrolls did not have the vowel marks at all but the difference between the two words was easily distinguished by the context. All of this is to say that according to the original Hebrew text, when you pray to “G-d”, you are either praying to Gad, the son of Joseph or to Fortune, the sun-god of Babylon. In verse 12, it says that this name is not pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

In Joshua 11:17; 12:7; and 13:5 we also find the word “Baal-gad” (Strong‘s #1171). This word is specifically a Ca’ananite pagan sun deity, also relating to “Fortune“. Remember that the Ca’ananites were famous for being the worst of all the pagan nations that Israel had to conquer as it claimed the “Promised Land”.

As a side note, the word, “cannibal”, came from “Ca’anan-Ba’al” (meaning the “Lord of Ca’anan”) because they ate human flesh as a part of their pagan ritual. Now back to our topic.

“Ba’al-gad”, is a combination of two words, “Baal” and “gad”. “Baal” means “master” or Lord and is not an offensive term unless it is used in a context referring to pagan gods. When you tell someone that they are very “fortunate”, you are literally saying that they are like the Babylonian and the Ca’ananite deities. “Baal-gad” literally means “Master-gawd”. All three references in Joshua refer to the destruction of Ca’anan and the Ca’ananite gods. This is why we request that only the Sacred Names of Yahweh and Yahsuha be spoken from the bimah ( a Hebrew podium) at Tree of Life Assembly.

Now, let me present to you something of which you may not have been aware. When the English biblical translators translated the Name of “Yahweh“, — how is it translated in most English Bibles today? It is translated as “Lord G-d”, the exact translation used in Joshua 11:17 to refer to “Fortune”, the Ca’ananite pagan god. This is blasphemy!